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27 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
Macroevolution
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Evolutionary change on a grand scale, encompassing the origin of new taxonomic groups, evolutionary trends, adaptive radiation, and mass extinction.
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Speciation
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The formation of new species.
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Biological Species Concept
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The definition of a species as a population or a group of populations whose members have the potential in nature to interbreed and produce fertile offspring.
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Species
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A group whose members possess similar anatomical characteristics and have the ability to interbreed.
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Prezygotic barrier
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A reproductive barrier that impedes mating between species or hinders fertilization of eggs if members of different species should attempt to mate.
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Postzygotic barrier
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A reproductive barrier that operates should interspecies mating occur and form hybrid zygote.
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Allopatric Speciation
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The formation of a new species as a result of an ancestral population's becoming isolated by a geographic barrier.
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Sympatric Speciation
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The formation of a new species as a result of a genetic change that produces a reproductive barrier between the changed population (mutants) and the parent population. Sympatric speciation occurs without a geographic barrier.
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Punctuated Equilibrium
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The idea that speciation occurs in spurts followed by long periods of little change.
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Exaptation
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A structure that has evolved in one environmental context and later becomes adapted for a different function in a different environment.
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Paedomorphosis
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The retention in the adult of features that were juvenile in its ancestors.
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Radiometric dating
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A method for determining the age of fossils and rocks from the ratio of redioactive isotope to the nonradioactive istope of the same element in the sample.
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Systematics
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The scientific study of biological diversity and its classification.
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Taxonomy
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The branch of biology concerned with identifying, naming, and classifying species.
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Binomial
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A two-part latinized name of a species.
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Family
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In classification, the taxonomy category above genus.
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Order
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In classification, the taxonomy category above family.
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Class
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In classification, the taxonomic category above order.
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Phyla
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In classification, the taxonomic category above class and below kingdom. Members of a phylum all have a similar general body plan.
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Kingdoms
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In classification, the broad taxonomic category above phylum or division.
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Phylogeny
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The evolutionary history of a species or group of related species.
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Phylogenetic tree
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A branching diagram that represents a hypothesis about relationships among organisms.
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Convergent evolution
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Adaptive change resulting in nonhomologous similarities among organisms. Species from different evolutionary lineages come to resemble each other as a result of living in very similar environments.
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Analogy
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The similarity of structure between two species that are not closely related, attributable to convergent evolution.
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Cladistics
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The study of evolutionary history; specifically, the scientific search for monophyletic taxa (clades), taxonomic groups composed of an ancestor and all its descendants.
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Clade
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An evolutionary branch that consists of an ancestors and all its descendants.
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Three-domain system
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A system of taxonomic classification based on three basic groups: Bacteria, Archaea, and Eukarya.
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